and I bought these instructions a while back but can't find them anymore

I think tutorials are great for learning the basic technique, but to be unique you have to have your own style and stand out from the rest

Your bow looks great and my thought is that if you have the skill to make a bow like that, then you can figure out how to make it your own without a tutorial because from here it is just adding your own style to it!

I have never used a tut. for the surrounding loops but I know there are free ones out there

I think a solid, light background makes a huge difference. I went ahead and quickly edited out the background on your picture (I hope you don't mind!!) to show the difference.

How in the world did you do this? I've been struggling for ages to get good pictures. I have just about everything you can imagine but my pictures are CRAP! Lightbox, reflector light, flash attachment, etc. and nothing. Please share your wealth of information..........I also use Adobe Elements. I have been "training" myself to use it.

How in the world did you do this? I've been struggling for ages to get good pictures. I have just about everything you can imagine but my pictures are CRAP! Lightbox, reflector light, flash attachment, etc. and nothing. Please share your wealth of information..........I also use Adobe Elements. I have been "training" myself to use it.

Haha, thanks for the vote of confidence but all I did is "cut" around the bow and deleted the background. Otherwise it is the exact same photo (she had a pretty good/clear starting photo.) I use Gimp and there is a tool called "Free Select" (not sure what the equivalent might be in Elements) and I just zoomed way in and clicked along the edges until I had the entire bow selected. I then just copied and pasted what I selected onto a new white background and that was it. There may even be an easier way than that but that's how I did that one.

I'm sure the seller would give you the instructions again, if you lost yours. I've done that for customers before. Sometimes life happens! E-mail her and explain that you lost the instructions, and the approximate date, and she can go back through her records and find the transaction and re-send.

I have done that, but without paying attention on if it looks bad or good but now I am realizing itīs better... THANKS for that advice!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ComingUnraveled

Also, I think your bow looks great and your original photo really wasn't bad at all. One tip someone recently provided on here for photographing bows would be to photograph the bow before you add the alligator clip. (Sorry whoever provided that tip, I'd credit you but I don't remember who it was!)

I agree on the white background. If you don't have the programs to do it, download gimp, paint.net etc...or a few people on here do it for you for cheap. I do as well as some others if you search some threads you can figure out who all does.

i highly recommend getting a lightscoop. It allows you to use a flash but doesnt whiten what you are taking a picture of. Im going to do an article on one and show you the difference in a pic w/ and w/o...its $25 and an excellent investment if you are doing indoor photos.

obviously it only works if you are using an EOS

another suggestion i have w/ lighting is to take pictures outside in natural lighting. Not in the bright sun, but a muted shade or at dusk/dawn.